Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire is the ninth installment in the Wayward Children series, and it’s at this point I have to ask an unfortunate question: Maybe it’s time for this strange and beautiful series to end?
So, I’ve been a massive fan of the series, so much that I’d look forward to every January to devour the newly released entry. There was a real high point at book four, and another decent uptick in the entry before this. This is a series of urban portal fantasies, each that focus on a different character, or a set of characters, with common themes of identity and acceptance. They are strange, beautiful, one sitting reads that are thought provoking, yet read easy.
I’m not sure what happened here. It definitely reads like a Seanan McGuire book, but doesn’t have the usual charm. Neither is it an absolute standalone like the rest. One of the reasons I loved these entries was because while they were so beautiful and easy to read, they had a certain doozy thematic depth. Here, it seems the opposite. Plus, you’ll need to be familiar with the previous, Lost in the Moment and Found to be able to make some progress with this. It also reads like part of that book, and a bit of a transition into something else.
I wanted to write a longer, gush review for this when I got the review copy, but I’m afraid I’m a bit too disappointed with this one, and might not pick up book ten. Still, I’d absolutely recommend you start with book one and work your way upto four.
I received an ARC of this book from the author/publisher. Quotes, if any, are taken from the ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
This title was published by Tordotcom in January 2024.
LINKS
Read my review of the previous book in the series, Lost in the Moment and Found, here
View details and add the book on Goodreads here | Purchase/pre-order the book on the publisher’s webshop – U.S.
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Interesting how a not-so-good instalment pulls us away from a series. I definitely need to read the first few parts of this series; the fact that I can read them in one sitting makes me happy lol.
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If you want to start on a high, just pick up book four, it’s based on the goblin market and I still think about it from time to time
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Hear hear! At one point I thought this series was going to end at ten books, and while that doesn’t seem to be the case, I do sort of wish it was true…
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Should’ve ended at four. Seriously
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Ohh, but I did like book five wrapping up Jack and Jill’s story 😅
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